Common Rituals And Customs Of Vishwakarma Matrimony

By Author: Ankush Singhal
Total Articles: 173
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Vishwakarma Matrimony is a happy occasion where family and friends gather to bless the groom and the bride. The Vishwakarma community members follow the Hindu religion and are mostly categorized into sub-groups based on their work. The community of coppersmiths, carpenters, blacksmiths, sculptors and goldsmiths comes under the Vishwakarma caste. The community members resides in various parts of India and are chiefly found in the Indian states of Rajasthan, Bihar, Gujarat, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. They are also settled in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The Vishwakarma Matrimony rituals depend on the many factors.

Vishwakarma Matrimony customs involves matching of gotras and horoscopes. The community members are also divided into clans namely Sanaga, Abhuvana, Sanatana, Pratanan and Suparna. These clans are named after Hindu sages as mentioned in the Yajurveda, a religious book of Hindu religion. The sages are sons of Hindu gods like the Sanaga sage is the son of Shiva, Sanatama is the son of Vishnu ...
... and Abhuvana is the son of Tvashtha. In addition, sage Pratanan is the son of Indra and Suparna is son of Surya.

The Vishwakarma community members in Andhra Pradesh are commonly known as Vishwakarma Brahmins. In the state of Tamil Nadu they are known by various names like Aasaari, Kamaalar or Aachari. The state of Kerala also has a good number of Vishwakarma community members who are classified into various sub castes depending upon the occupation. The carpenters of this community are called as Marayasari or Thachar. The community members working as bronzesmiths are called Moosari or Mooshary. The goldsmiths from Vishwakarma community of Kerala are called Tattar or Thattar.

Wedding rituals varies from state to state. There are many pre-wedding ritual associated with Vishwakarma Matrimony. The first wedding ritual is the Muhuratam. In this ritual, an auspicious day is selected for the wedding. The priest and elders of the family fix even the time of wedding. Another important pre-wedding ritual is the Pendlikoothuru. This function is organized in the homes of bride and the groom. The family members of the bride and groom are engaged in this ceremony. The groom is smeared with oil and turmeric and then given a ceremonial bath. This same process happens in the girl’s house. After the bath, both the groom and the bride wear new set of clothes.

On the wedding day, the rituals start with an offering to Hindu deities. The bride and the groom get up at dawn and take a bath. Both of them wear traditional attire and sits for the wedding rituals. The girl starts the rites with performing a puja to goddess Durga. In the same way, in the groom’s house, he sits for the rituals and begins by worshipping Lord Ganesha.

The Vishwakarma Matrimony function continues throughout the day. Some important wedding rituals, which are common across the various sub communities of Vishwakarma, are Kanyadaan and Saptapadi. In the ritual of Kanyadaan, the father or guardian of the bride gives her hand to the groom. According to the Vishwakarma community wedding ritual, the bride is made to sit in a basket and then she is carried to the mandap. The bride and groom cannot see each other until the time marriage is solemnized. After the wedding rituals are over, the bride’s parents washes the groom’s feet.

The mangalsutra tying ceremony is another important ritual and is common among the various Vishwakarma sub-communities. Exchange of garlands is a very common ritual, which generally happens after tying of the mangalsutra. While the garlands are exchanged, the family members and invitees at the wedding shower rice and flower petals. The wedding is solemnized with the bride and the groom encircling the holy fire seven times. This ritual is known as Saptapadi.

Some Sikh communities members are have made the state of Maharashtra as their home. They are popularly known as Maharashtrian Sikh or Dakhani Sikh. Most of them came and settled in the state of Maharashtra three centuries ago. Most of the Sikh members speak Marathi language. The Sikh wedding known as Anand Karaj takes place in presence of the holy book, Guru Granth Sahib. For the Sikh community members, the matrimonial customs are a good mix of Marathi culture and rituals of Sikh wedding.

Shipra writes on behalf of Jeevansathi.com, which is India’s fastest growing Matrimonial website. Jeevansathi.com helps the users to search corresponding matches from their respective community like Hindu Matrimonial, Hindi Matrimony from their online matrimonial and matchmaking services.